Finding value in being small

If they are nimble and smart, small businesses can sometimes run circles around bigger competitors. If they're not, they can get squashed.

Big companies typically have more money, customers, products and staff. But smaller companies can often adapt to change more quickly, better customize service and inspire enduring loyalty.

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Your Money interviewed three New Yorkers about their businesses to find out how they compete with large, established brands.

Daniel Feldman, BrooklynTwenty years ago, Daniel Feldman took on Dr. Scholl's by not taking it on. The Brooklyn family business started by his chiropractor father, Leonard Feldman, has since grown to offer scores of foot care products, including insoles, inserts, creams, medicines and corn cushions.

"From the day we decided to go into this business, it occurred to us that there really was only one brand doing a nice job," said Feldman, 38, of the Upper West Side.

"For us to stay one step ahead, we decided to compete by not competing."

That meant not copying the Chicago-based industry leader, but making new foot care products. Profoot, now the No. 2 foot care products company, holds dozens of patents, Feldman said, and products like Heel Rescue Cream, the Toe Spacer and the Smart Arch ensure that Profoot tries to lead, not follow.

Innovation, not imitation, is how Profoot intends to try to keep growing.

"We're very focused on our core strategy — not to compete," Feldman said.

A shade under 5-feet-4, Isobella Jade has been building a brand — herself — for the petite model. She was watching "America's Next Top Model" two years ago when it hit her that the industry catered to women 5-feet-10 and taller.

She must have been on to something: When the show held auditions for short models earlier this month, thousands of them showed up.

The event made headlines when the crowd of cuties stampeded outside the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan after an overheated car passed by and spooked them.

Jade, 26, began educating "underdog, height-challenged" models about opportunities beyond high fashion more than a year ago through books and her Web site, isobelladreams.com."I give advice on how to submit to agencies, how to prepare for castings and how to market yourself as a model," she said.

Shorter models can find work off the catwalk, she said, by promoting skin care and hair products, cosmetics, glasses and lifestyle and commercial products, such as cell phones, cars, household goods and nonfashion clothing brands.

Jade has found lucrative work modeling and is convinced women her height are an untapped resource in the field.

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She plans to continue modeling and continue blazing a trail for others.

"I get to talk about what I love and do what I love, talk about it, get paid," she said.

Wesley Verhoeve, BrooklynAfter Wesley Verhoeve came to New York from the Netherlands in 2003, he interned at megalabel Universal Music and later moved to Sony BMG.

In 2005, he took a job at Engine Room Recordings as the label's general manager. But working for a fair-sized recording company didn't stop him from taking on bigger targets on two fronts.

Also a guitarist, he released his own indie band's first album that year, and its label was his own Family Records, a side business he started in the Financial District.

As owner of Family Records, he develops relatively unknown artists, marketing their recorded sound and live performances.

Once they mature, he shifts them to a stronger record label but continues managing their careers. He knew before he started that he'd be up against big labels."It's a reality in the entertainment business," Verhoeve, 30, said.

He also knew what niche he was after.

"We go for smaller, more specific audiences than the big brands, which have to go mass market because of high overhead," he said. "We cater to our audiences and build them."

The company is innovating by releasing six singles instead of an album. That's an example of the flexibility Verhoeve said gives his smaller company an advantage.

"We can be much more agile, more flexible, more personal and niche-oriented, doing whatever we want strategically speaking," Verhoeve said.